La Cantina

It feels like ages since i last posted here and i do apologize for that. On the other hand, i do have a few places that are eagerly waiting to be posted! 

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For quite a while, i have been wanting to visit La Cantina - a nice rustic and cozy Italian restaurant located in the quiet surrounds of Narrabundah. The restaurant is nicely decorated with an array of oil paintings set against the thick brick walls, and definitely loved the brick archways that were cleverly lit by some simplistic modern lighting. Beautiful restaurant, i must say. 

We decided to start with some entrees and couldn't go pass the Polpette (Housemade meatball family recipe in a chilli, tomato basil sauce topped with parmesan cheese) and i had to get the Quaglia Saltimbocca (Wood roasted quail with pancetta, pearl barley, organic chick pea and Chianti dressing) to 'increase my repertoire' of quail dishes. The housemade meatballs were of a generous size and they tasted lovely with that subtle hint of chilli. The quail was flavoursome and moist and i liked the incorporation of different textures in the dish.

  Polpette 

Quaglia Saltimbocca

Moving on to the mains we got the Costoletta di Vitello (Crumbed veal rib eye with sautéed kipfler potato, baby spinach and oyster mushroom) which was quite generous in size and super juicy and tender...ohn yeah, forgot to mention that lovely golden brown crumb around the veal...yum. 

The other main that we ended up getting was the Ravioli di Anatra e Funghi (Duck and mushroom ravioli with confit organic garlic, burnt sage butter and pecorino cheese). This dish was the one that i was mostly looking forward to but unfortunately it turned out a bit disappointing. I couldn't taste much of the duck as the mushroom taste was quite overpowering and overall this dish felt quite oily.

Lastly, it was time for desserts and being in an Italian restaurant we had to order the much-loved Tiramisu (with the Marsala served aside). It was served in a mug and the balance of coffee and mascarpone was good without one overpowering the other. Delish~

We also decided to order a mixed selection of cheese which consisted of two types of cheese served with crackers and truffled honey. 

• Taleggio DOP Giovanni Colombo, Pavia, Italy
  Cows milk, Rich and buttery with melon flavour, when aged becomes stronger in flavour
• Gorgonzola DOP Giovanni Colombo, Cava Manara, Italy
  Cows milk, piccante blue vein cheese, smooth with typical green streaks

I am no cheese connoisseur but my favorite cheese was the Gorgonzola one, maybe because it didn't taste as strong and 'sharp' as the Taleggio. And for some reason, i didn't quite fancy the truffled honey...it must have been the traumatic experience i had at last year's tragic truffle degustation...oh well.

Overall, i had a nice dining experience at La Cantina. Gorgeous and very welcoming restaurant with friendly and attentive staff. I wouldn't mind coming back to try their woodfire pizzas.